The Shorts Film School

Create high impact, short snappy, engaging videos for social media.

© Video School Online 2023

Overview of Key Video Formats (and Socials)
Aspect Ratio

9:16/ Vertical/
Portrait
9 ● Used for Shorts/Reels
and Stories

● Now the most watched

format of online video
16 on social media

16 ● 9 across by 16 high this

is formatted to fit a
16:9 / Landscape smart phone screen

● This is the promat we

● Used for regular video production (classic/traditional). will be using in the
shorts film school
● Used in TV, Movies, YouTube’s primary video aspect ratio

● 16 across by 9 high. designed to fit TV screen, phone in

landscape mode 9
 1:1 Square 4:5

Used primarily on Facebook This is the aspect ratio if a viewer

to ensure a full video is seen watches your reel on instagram
even when it is displayed as a but doesn't click to view as full
post/on feed. screen (on feed for example)
 DAN PHIL

1 Shorts 3 Stories

2
Reels/Posts

longer (than stories, usually) 1 minute stories - same format/aspect ratio but these
videos that stay on your disappear (depending in platform between 24
channel/profile, they do not disappear hours and 7 days) and serve a different
purpose
 SUMMARIZE
● Always vertical / 9:16 / portrait
○ We will always be referring to and using this format to create shorts/reels and
stories
● Longform - Shorts/Reels
○ Depending on the platform these are called either stories or reels
○ They are a standalone videos that stays with your channel/brand

● Stories - time limited posts

○ These can last from 24 hours - 7 days on your channel (depending on platform)
○ They serve a different purpose than shorts/reels (to update, inform)

● What’s needed to make a great vertical video for any platform…

○ The theory is the same for all video, a great story that keeps people engaged
○ We will focus on producing the best story with purpose for a video that is
transferable across platforms.
 Working out your channel niche

● DO NOT only make a channel because you think it has the highest CPM/Earning
potential on platforms

● It NEEDS to be something you are passionate about

● If you are an authority on a subject go with that (if you love it)

● Learning/discovering about that interest can actually be your channel

● Tighten your niche (niche-down)

 Our Brand
For this course we are creating videos for a mock
channel/brand we have created

● A niche that we love (Food)

● Able to tighten the niche (niche-down): Yes,

“street food”

● Do we have the means to film mass content

on this subject? Yes, we live in locations that
enables us to film this topic

● This topic has enough other existing

channels to amass research and discover key
strategies to grow
Equipment
Best Practices
Key Point

No shaky camera
The most important thing is to
create intrigue & connection with
your audience.
Be in focus
You can do this with any camera.

Sound is important*
What does
orientation have
to do with
equipment?

Photo by Jonas Jacobsson

 High Definition Resolution

16:9
9:16 1920 x 1080 resolution

1080 x 1920 resolution

 4k Resolution

16:9
9:16 3840 x 2160 resolution

2160 x 3840 resolution

The benefit of 4k resolution
3840 x 2160

1080 x 1920
1080 x 1920

2160 x 3840
 Using a Smartphone
Phones win at: Phones fall behind*

Always with you Low light

Easy to film with Cinematic quality

Create right within the Zooming in

apps
Create an Efficient Transfer Process

1 Bluetooth 3 USB Connection

transfer/Airdrop/Share
Nearby
Key Point
2 Cloud Storage: Don’t let your equipment
Google Drive, Dropbox, hold you back.
etc.
 Using a DSLR or Mirrorless Camera

Things to consider:

Key Point
Portability
You can make
Connectivity
‘professional’ videos with
any camera… or your
smartphone
Flip out screen
 Brand / Model Recommendations

Pro Intermediate Budget

Sony A7 series Sony A6000 series Sony ZV-1

Canon R6 or R7 series Canon R10 Canon Powershots

Nikon Z7 or Z6 series Nikon Z50 Panasonic Lumix LX100

Fujifilm XH or XT series Fujifilm X-S10 or X-T30 GoPro

Panasonic Lumix S5M2X Panasonic GH5 Canon Rebel Series

Lighting Kit Basics

2-3 Lights

LED panels = affordable

Softboxes
My Lighting Kit

Dracast 4 Light Kit

Will you be
editing on the go?
If not, will you be
editing on your
phone/tablet or
computer?
Pro Apps Simpler Apps

Adobe Premiere Pro Apple iMovie

Final Cut X Clipchamp for Windows

DaVinci Resolve (free!) Canva.com

Phone/Tablet Apps

Apple iMovie
Adobe Premiere Rush
Kinemaster
FilmoraGo
Quik
Splice
 Key Point I always think of when using equipment

REMEMBER:
K.I.S
KEEP IT SIMPLE
Let your content do the talking, not your kit
Think about this…
1 Remember, does it really matter?
Mr Beast got to 100k subs with his old
2 4
phone. Content over kit
Think where your content is being
3
consumed, so does the kit matter?
All filming equipment now (pretty much) at
all price points are great quality, you don’t
need to spend much; or use what you have
and make sure conditions are aiding the
quality
Cameras Microphones
Let’s take a look at my cameras, see how they look I pretty much use 3 types of mics
and learn what I use them for.

01 | Phone 01 | Onboard mics

02 | Action Camera 02 | Directional Microphone

03 | DSLR 03 | Lapel Microphone

Lighting TriPods & Grips

Cost Effective and Simple Think of your use/needs

01 | Use daylight when possible 01 | Mobile Tripod

02 | SoftBoxes / cheap LED panel light 02 | GorillaPod

03 | LED camera light 03 | Just Hold it…

Planning

What’s the Purpose

of Your Videos?
Ask yourself…
Before creating any video, you always have to ask yourself these
key questions to make sure you are ALWAYS creating the RIGHT
video for your channel
What's the purpose of your Videos

1 What is the purpose of your 3

Who are your audience?
videos/channel from an outcome
point of view?

2
Where are your audience? 4
Always make your videos for this
audience, don’t sway, keep your
niche tight.
The Street Food Channel
01 | I want ad revenue from ads on YouTube (and others)

02 | I want sponsorship from brands in the food space located in

english speaking locations, namely USA/UK/ CA/AUS

03 | Male and Female, 20-45yrs, interests in food, cooking & world foods

04 | I will now make sure every video I create is optimized this target
“person”
 Research & Planning
What to Include

0 Set Up a Story
0
1
Classic conflict > resolution
3
Humor helps

0
2
The Food is King Expressive facial expression

Make Food at Forefront. Note this short has The audience are living through me for 60
text in wrong place as it’s covered, don’t do this seconds, if i’m smiling, having fun, in shock… so
are they
 Titles/Topics

Never Seen Ultimate Demand

“Record “World’s “Must Try”

Breaking $” Best”
WORLD’S BEST All You The Best Restaurant in Must Try Before You Die!!
Can Eat BUFFET (Record the World (literally) 10 Best Indian Foods!!
Breaking $100 Million
Budget)!

*Are there “search terms” in your niche too, a certain type of food that does well and searched for here, ex. “Street
Food”
 In my niche…
■ The food is the star
■ Show me trying the food and REACTION
■ VO telling story
■ Show price
■ Set up problem/obstacle at start and full story
■ Plug to see more from me (generally)

*Now I will use this research and findings to dictate what I include in my videos in the planning
stage of my content later in the course - you should do the same
Expectations

1 How fast will you grow? 3 Depending on your purpose, does it matter?
“Quality over quantity”

2 What can you do to grow faster? 4 Here’s the brief plan I used
 Repurposing Content
Should you?... Tips
01 | Don’t put anything important or text near the top
01 | Yes! or bottom of 9:16 vertical

02 | Don’t mention anything app specific

02 | Maximise the results from the effort it takes to
create your content
03 | Edit externally
03 | One video = 4 platforms/exposures
04 | Music

05 | Length
 Reels ≠ Stories

Last forever Last 1-7 days

Searchable Not searchable

Public Only friends/followers*

Videos Videos, photos, graphics,

clickable

Key Point

Reels/Shorts help you grow your channel, get new followers. Stories are great
for growth… but in a different way.
Stories 101

Casual/frequent updates Shorter* video limit

Driving people to other Use sequential stories

content

Engagement (i.e. surveys,

questions, polls)
Filming for Each Platform

Shorts/Reels
YouTube, Instagram, Facebook & Tik Tok

Reminder:
Why use shorts/reels?
What are Shorts/Reels?
● Shorts and Reels are very
different to stories in that they
don’t expire (stories do
depending on app 24 hours - 7
days)
● Shorts/reels appear in search
and suggested on feeds unlike a
story where someone has to
make the effort of clicking on
your profile
Reminder:
● Showcasing your brand, message, style
○ These are your main videos, your message
○ They are a permanent representation of
your channel
● Great for growth - in a different way
○ Platforms want to share shorts, they are
binge-worthy content and keep people on
app and discovering; in-turn you grow
● Money
○ YouTube has now monetized shorts, you
can earn where previously this was just on
long form videos
○ You can on tik tok and facebook too, but
earnings are generally much lower or more
difficult to get monetized but generally
views much higher on Tik Tok (exposure)
 Reminder:

What do shorts look like?

● Short/Reel video limit - varies and ever changing:
● 9:16 vertical videos
○ YouTube - 60 seconds
○ Instagram and FB - 90 seconds
● In different apps you can add music (be careful
○ Tik Tok - either 60 seconds or in some geos
with copyright across platforms) filters, text,
and accounts 10 minutes
graphics (see these in a later lecture)

● They are gripping, fast-paced entertainment or

● Always use 9:16 but, depending on your use-case
meant to inform
best practice is to not add important details at the
top or bottom and add captions later in app - if you
● They are less of an update or a quick piece of fun
have text put it in the center 4:5
like stories, they are stand alone content.
● General CTA not app specific
● In more recent years they’ve become a place to tell
a whole story
What makes a great short?
Generally:
● You need to grip your audience within seconds - that’s
all you have

● Videos need to be fast paced, cut every 2-5 seconds

For our channel:

● Set up problem/obstacle/task in opening 3 seconds

● Have a voice telling a story the whole way through

● Have text on screen, not every word like captions but

something for almost every cut - put these in the center
of screen to fit all formats

● Make it funny in parts

● Plenty of shots of the food

● Big reactions from me

Our Short Video Template
Time
00:00 - 00:10 Intro

00:10-00:25 Section 1

○ Ease creating a lot of content

using this formula
00:25 - 00:40 Section 2
○ Audience stay;ensures you don’t
change style; give them what
they like every time
00:40 - 00:55 Section 3
○ Ease of editing, use same post
production template

00:55 - 00:59 Outro/Plug

 Making your videos

What we’ll cover…

■ We’ll be covering technically how to produce reels/shorts

and stories on each platform

■ I will be tackling shorts & reels while Phil will be covering

stories

■ Show you the difference between producing videos for

reels/shorts vs stories

■ See how we use all the planning and research we’ve

gathered, plan, grab our filming kit, film and edit to put
together amazing videos

■ We’ll show you how you then upload these (and extras
features if you wanted to add these) in app
Planning Our Short - We know from research & Plan every videos needs:

1
Set up problem/obstacle/task in 4 Make it funny if you can
opening 3 seconds and make it shocking
if you can

Always have a voice telling story the Plenty of shots of the food, that is king;
2 5
whole way through, either direct to and big reactions from me
camera or a complete voice over (I’ll do
the latter mostly and lay over my shots)

3
Have text on screen, not every word like
captions but something for almost every
cut or when it’s needed
5
Time out each section 15 seconds or so
and cut shot every few seconds
Our Short Video Template
Time
00:00 - 00:10 Open with the problem to overcome
● Today i am on the hunt for the best sweet street food in Bangkok but I have a problem
● I have just $5 and 1 hour to find the best street food in central downtown bangkok, let’s explore this food mega city!

00:10-00:25 Section 1
● It’s been exactly 5.3 seconds and i’ve found my first sweet street food
○ Have shots of food
● Explain the food as they make it, say the price, take a bite
● Reaction to the food - big reaction
Section 2 (reinforce challenge)
00:25 - 00:40
● The mission is going well, it was off to a good start, i don’t want to lose momentum. I look around and I spot her, (slow mo for
funny) the Thai cake lady
○ Have shots of food
● Explain the food as they make it, say the price, take a bite
● Reaction to the food
00:40 - 00:55 Section 3 (put pressure on the story, challenge - CLIMAX)
● Now I’m starting to feel the pressure, it was all going so well and I see loads of street food but none of it sweet.
● I’m coming back for that thai fried chicken later though! Like… Kentucky Thai Chicken (change edit the KFC logo)
● Me laughing at my own joke, reaction face
● Then as if out of nowhere I see it
○ See me looking in to the distance
● The thai ice… and beans dessert… I don’t really like this (explain the food, price).. It’s beans and ice… but it counts!
● Challenge completed!

00:55 - 00:59 Outro/Plug

● Be sure to check out our other videos to see us on more street food adventures
Editing Order:
● Organizing the footage
● Setting up the edit settings
● Laying down a rough, first draft
● Cutting down the edit
● Adding a voiceover
● Adding music
● Adding Text & Graphics
● Exporting
 Laying Down
Importing & a First Draft Edit
Organizing the Footage ● Don't worry about being too neat
or perfect for your first draft
● Get the shorts down in the
● Import the footage from your device correct order
● Best practice: add folders to separate ● See how far over you are 60
sections of your video seconds (hopefully not too far)
● Label each clip so ease to find when
editing your video

Cutting Down the Edit

Edit Settings ● Go through a trim shots at the start and
end of clips especially
● Ensure your sequence is set up for 9:16 ● Be cruel and harsh, if it doesn’t add to
● 1080 x 1920 the story then remove it
● Get this down to 58/59 seconds - this is
your final sequence of shots
 Adding a Voiceover
● Now your final sequence if shots is down,
you can record a voiceover with the
correct timings Adding Text &
Record directly to laptop/using your
Graphics
●
phone/ mic/ directly in to software
● Watch the footage and speak with
animation and then trim the voiceover to ● Use text especially at the
be quick and punchy beginning of the video
● Uniform teh text throughout
Do not place this at the very top
Adding Music ●
or bottom of shot, always in the
centre 4:5 for repurposing
● Find a track that fits with your target audience
● Find a track that suits your niche
● Choose a track that suits the tempo of your edit
● Cut this at comic moments to break tempo
● Use copyright free music
 We’ll be looking at:

Buzzfeedtasty
SheBakesSourdough
Let’s plan our story JoyTheBaker
Food52
TheTastyTraveler.kt
GirlEatWorld
HelloPune__
Tummy_Ticklings
Classy_eaterr
@buzzfeedtasty
@shebakesourdough
@joythebaker
@food52
@thetastytraveler.kt
@thetastytraveler.kt
@thetastytraveler.kt
@thetastytraveler.kt
@thetastytraveler.kt
@hellopune__
@classy_eaterr
@obieats
Stories to Build Connection

1. Good morning, what’s the plan for today?

2. Let the audience choose your adventure
3. BTS - Going out to get food
4. BTS - Ordering food
5. BTS - Receiving food
6. BTS - Eating food
7. BTS - Food review
Stories to Drive Traffic to Content

1. Link to full YouTube video

2. Sharing a new reel
3. Sharing link to free downloadable guide of
top street food in XYZ location
How often should you post?

1-2 reels per week Key Point

Social media is not a

1-2 stories per day vacuum.
It’s a two-way street.
Tips for Growing on Instagram
● Clean up your bios
● Use captions
● Be yourself
 Growth on
YouTube
Bonus section
○ You need clicks (CTR) and Watch time
■ So, your content needs to do two things:
● Get clicks and
● Get watch-time
■ Youtube wants people on their site for as long as
possible because they want to display ads (they are a
business)
■ With shorts, it’s different to regular videos…
■ Use the tactics and plan we have researched and
obsess over getting people to stay in those first 5
seconds
■ Check your analytics - the answer to success will be in
there!
Growth on
YouTube
Front-load your channel
■ Give YouTube a lot of content early (this might mean
storing up videos and scheduling out)
● 30 days, 1 video per day
● After this you will have enough data in your
analytics to know:
○ What videos worked the best (and why,
was it topic, style, title, tags?)
○ You’ll know when your audience are online
to release content at the right time
○ You can now create quality content faster
○ Monetized - YouTube more inclined to give
you impressions
○ You can make less content, every 2,3 days
but you have the perfect formula for YOUR
audience
■ That’s important to remember, you
are not capturing all of YouTube,
you are producing for YOUR
audience
Thank you.